(Updated at 5:51 p.m.) PARIS — The bloody three-day hostage standoff at a natural gas plant in the Sahara took a dramatic turn Friday as Algeria’s state news service reported that nearly 100 of the 132 foreign workers kidnapped by Islamic militants had been freed.

That number of hostages at the remote desert facility was significantly higher than any previous report, but it still left questions about the fate of over 30 other foreign energy workers. It wasn’t clear how the government arrived at the latest tally of hostages, which was far higher than the 41 foreigners the militants had claimed previously.

Algeria’s state news agency also reported late Friday that a “provisional toll” shows 12 hostages have been killed since the start of the Algerian military operation to free workers kidnapped by militants at the plant. The APS news agency quoted an unidentified security source for the new death toll and said the fatalities include both Algerian and foreign workers.

That hostage death toll would be more than double the one APS had reported earlier. The news agency has said 18 militants had been killed.

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Yet the report that nearly 100 workers were safe could indicate a breakthrough in the confrontation that began when the militants seized the plant early Wednesday.

U.S. officials said Friday that one American worker at the complex, Texas resident Frederick Buttaccio, has been found dead there, but that it was unclear how he died. The Obama administration was seeking to secure the release of other Americans still being held by the militants.

France said one Frenchman has been killed during the raid by Algerian forces. The Foreign Ministry identified him as Yann Desjeux, without providing additional information. The ministry said three other French hostages are now free, but didn’t say if any French citizens remain in captivity.

The militants, meanwhile, offered to trade two captive American workers for two terror figures jailed in the United States, according to a statement received by a Mauritanian news site that often reports news from North African extremists.

The U.S. State Department confirmed that some Americans are still being held hostage in Algeria. Asked about a militant offer to trade two American hostages for jailed terror figures in the United States, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, “The United States does not negotiate with terrorists.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Algeria to do everything possible to protect the remaining hostages. Clinton said that in her conversation on Friday with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal she emphasized that “the utmost care must be taken to preserve innocent life.”

It was not clear whether the remaining foreigners were still captive or had died during the Algerian military offensive to free them that began Thursday.

The desert siege erupted Wednesday when the militants attempted to hijack two buses at the plant, were repulsed, and then seized the sprawling refinery, which is 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) south of Algiers. They had claimed the attack came in retaliation for France’s recent military intervention against Islamist rebels in neighboring Mali, but security experts have said it must have taken weeks of planning to hit the remote site.

Since then, Algeria’s government has kept a tight grip on information about the siege.

The militants had seized hundreds of workers from 10 nations at Algeria’s remote Ain Amenas natural gas plant. The overwhelming majority were Algerian and were freed almost immediately.

Algerian forces retaliated Thursday by storming the plant in an attempted rescue operation that left leaders around the world expressing strong concerns about the hostages’ safety.

Militants claimed 35 hostages died on Thursday when Algerian military helicopters opened fire as the Islamists transported the hostages around the gas plant. They militants said they continue to hold seven foreign hostages, according to Mauritanian news agency ANI, which said it had spoken to militants on Friday.

On Friday, trapped in the main refinery area, the militants offered to trade two American hostages for two prominent terror figures jailed in the United States. Those the militants sought included Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheikh who was convicted of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks and considered the spiritual leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

But U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said there would be “no place to hide” for anyone who looks to attack the United States. “Terrorists should be on notice that they will find no sanctuary, no refuge, not in Algeria, not in North Africa, not anywhere,” Panetta said Friday.

Workers kidnapped by the militants came from around the world — Americans, Britons, French, Norwegians, Romanians, Malaysians, Japanese, Algerians.

World leaders have expressed strong concerns in the past few days about how Algeria was handing the situation and its apparent reluctance to communicate.

Terrorized hostages from Ireland and Norway trickled out of the Ain Amenas plant, 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) south of Algiers, the capital. BP, which jointly operates the plant, said it had begun to evacuate employees from Algeria.

“This is a large and complex site and they are still pursuing terrorists and possibly some of the hostages,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday in London.

He told British lawmakers the situation remained fluid and dangerous, saying “part of the threat has been eliminated in one part of the site, a threat still remains in another part.”

A U.S. military C-130 transport plane flew a number of people including former Ain Amenas hostages from the Algerian capital of Algiers to a U.S. facility in Europe, a U.S. official said. He declined to be specific about the destination, their nationalities or the extent of the wounds that he said some had.

A flood of foreign energy workers were being evacuated from the North African nation amid security concerns.

BP evacuated one U.S. citizen along with other foreign energy workers from Algeria to Mallorca and then London. The oil giant said three flights left Algeria on Thursday, carrying 11 BP employees and several hundred energy workers from other companies.

A fourth plane was taking more people out of the country on Friday, BP said.

Schemm reported from Rabat, Morocco. AP writers Karim Kebir in Algiers, Lolita Baldor, Eileen Sullivan, Robert Burns and Bradley Klapper in Washington, Lori Hinnant in Paris, and Cassandra Vinograd in London contributed to this report.

(Updated at 4:46 p.m.) PARIS — The bloody three-day hostage standoff at a natural gas plant in the Sahara took a dramatic turn Friday as Algeria’s state news service reported that nearly 100 of the 132 foreign workers kidnapped by Islamic militants had been freed.

That number of hostages at the remote desert facility was significantly higher than any previous report, but it still left questions about the fate of more than 30 other foreign energy workers. It wasn’t clear how the government arrived at the latest tally of hostages, which was far higher than the 41 foreigners the militants had claimed previously.

Algeria’s state news agency also reported late Friday that a “provisional toll” shows 12 hostages have been killed since the start of the Algerian military operation to free workers kidnapped by militants at the plant. The APS news agency quoted an unidentified security source for the new death toll and said the fatalities include both Algerian and foreign workers.

That hostage death toll would be more than double the one APS had reported earlier. The news agency has said 18 militants had been killed.

Yet the report that nearly 100 workers were safe could indicate a breakthrough in the confrontation that began when the militants seized the plant early Wednesday.

France said one Frenchman has been killed during the raid by Algerian forces. The Foreign Ministry identified him as Yann Desjeux, without providing additional information. The ministry said three other French hostages are now free, but didn’t say if any French citizens remain in captivity.

The militants, meanwhile, offered to trade two captive American workers for two terror figures jailed in the United States, according to a statement received by a Mauritanian news site that often reports news from North African extremists.

The U.S. State Department confirmed that some Americans are still being held hostage in Algeria. Asked about a militant offer to trade two American hostages for jailed terror figures in the United States, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, “The United States does not negotiate with terrorists.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Algeria to do everything possible to protect the remaining hostages. Clinton said that in her conversation on Friday with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal she emphasized that “the utmost care must be taken to preserve innocent life.”

It was not clear whether the remaining foreigners were still captive or had died during the Algerian military offensive to free them that began Thursday.

The desert siege erupted Wednesday when the militants attempted to hijack two buses at the plant, were repulsed, and then seized the sprawling refinery, which is 800 miles south of Algiers. They had claimed the attack came in retaliation for France’s recent military intervention against Islamist rebels in neighboring Mali, but security experts have said it must have taken weeks of planning to hit the remote site.

Since then, Algeria’s government has kept a tight grip on information about the siege.

The militants had seized hundreds of workers from 10 nations at Algeria’s remote Ain Amenas natural gas plant. The overwhelming majority were Algerian and were freed almost immediately.

Algerian forces retaliated Thursday by storming the plant in an attempted rescue operation that left leaders around the world expressing strong concerns about the hostages’ safety.

Militants claimed 35 hostages died on Thursday when Algerian military helicopters opened fire as the Islamists transported the hostages around the gas plant. They militants said they continue to hold seven foreign hostages, according to Mauritanian news agency ANI, which said it had spoken to militants on Friday.

On Friday, trapped in the main refinery area, the militants offered to trade two American hostages for two prominent terror figures jailed in the United States. Those the militants sought included Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheikh who was convicted of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks and considered the spiritual leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

But U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said there would be “no place to hide” for anyone who looks to attack the United States. “Terrorists should be on notice that they will find no sanctuary, no refuge, not in Algeria, not in North Africa, not anywhere,” Panetta said Friday.

Workers kidnapped by the militants came from around the world — Americans, Britons, French, Norwegians, Romanians, Malaysians, Japanese, Algerians.

World leaders have expressed strong concerns in the past few days about how Algeria was handing the situation and its apparent reluctance to communicate.

Terrorized hostages from Ireland and Norway trickled out of the Ain Amenas plant, 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) south of Algiers, the capital. BP, which jointly operates the plant, said it had begun to evacuate employees from Algeria.

“This is a large and complex site and they are still pursuing terrorists and possibly some of the hostages,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday in London.

He told British lawmakers the situation remained fluid and dangerous, saying “part of the threat has been eliminated in one part of the site, a threat still remains in another part.”

A U.S. military C-130 transport plane flew a number of people including former Ain Amenas hostages from the Algerian capital of Algiers to a U.S. facility in Europe, a U.S. official said. He declined to be specific about the destination, their nationalities or the extent of the wounds that he said some had.

A flood of foreign energy workers were being evacuated from the North African nation amid security concerns.

BP evacuated one U.S. citizen along with other foreign energy workers from Algeria to Mallorca and then London. The oil giant said three flights left Algeria on Thursday, carrying 11 BP employees and several hundred energy workers from other companies.

A fourth plane was taking more people out of the country on Friday, BP said.

Schemm reported from Rabat, Morocco. AP writers Karim Kebir in Algiers, Lolita Baldor, Eileen Sullivan, Robert Burns and Bradley Klapper in Washington, Lori Hinnant in Paris, and Cassandra Vinograd in London contributed to this report.

(Updated at 2:40 p.m.) WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Friday it was trying to secure the release of Americans still being held hostage on the third day of a standoff with militants at a natural gas complex in the Sahara, as other U.S. citizens were being flown out of the country for recovery in Europe.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. was working closely with Algeria at a time that the North African country was coming under increased global criticism of its handling of the attack. She said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke for the third straight day with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal to express concern about the remaining U.S. citizens in captivity and to demand that any counterterror operation ensure civilian losses are minimalized.

The Algerian state news agency reported that 12 hostages have been killed since Wednesday, the start of the operation to rescue them.

The Algerians “are dealing with people who have no respect for human life, and you know it is obviously in our interest to see them successfully bring this situation to a conclusion,” Nuland told reporters in Washington. She declined to say how many Americans were still in harm’s way for fear of compromising their safety.

She spoke as some Americans were being ferried out of Algeria.

She also rejected a demand by militants to trade two American hostages for prominent terror figures jailed in the U.S., stating flatly: “The United States does not negotiate with terrorists.”

BP evacuated one American, along with other foreign workers, to Mallorca, Spain, and then to London. And an American official said a U.S. military C-130 flew a group people, including some lightly wounded or injured, from Algiers to a U.S. facility in Europe on Friday. The official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and requested anonymity.

Earlier Friday, Algeria’s state news service reported that nearly 100 of the 132 foreign workers kidnapped by Islamic militants were free. That number of hostages at the remote desert facility was significantly higher than any previous report, but questions remained about the fate of more than 30 other foreign energy workers.

In London, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta met with British Prime Minister David Cameron at No. 10 Downing Street to assess their governments’ understandings of the situation. At King’s College, Panetta said the U.S. is “working around the clock to ensure the safe return of our citizens” and that terrorists should be on notice they will find no sanctuary in Algeria or North Africa.

In Washington, the White House said President Barack Obama was being briefed Friday by his national security team. His top aides were in touch with Algerian officials as well as BP’s security office in London. BP jointly operates the natural gas plant.

Despite increased concern from world leaders about Algeria’s apparent reluctance to coordinate a response, Nuland stressed that the U.S. and the North African country maintained “effective cooperation.”

The militants — led by a Mali-based al-Qaida offshoot known as the Masked Brigade — seek the freedom of Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind sheikh convicted of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks and considered the spiritual leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

The desert siege began Wednesday when the militants attempted to hijack two buses at the plant, were repelled, and then seized the sprawling Ain Amenas refinery 800 miles south of Algiers. They had claimed the attack came in retaliation for France’s recent military intervention against Islamist rebels in neighboring Mali, but security experts have said it must have taken weeks of planning to hit the remote site.

Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor in London and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

EARLIER VERSION OF THIS STORY

(Updated at 12:57 p.m.) ALGIERS, Algeria — The bloody three-day hostage standoff at a Sahara natural gas plant took a dramatic turn Friday as Algeria’s state news service reported that nearly 100 of the 132 foreign workers kidnapped by Islamic militants had been freed.

That number of hostages at the remote desert facility was significantly higher than any previous report, and still meant that the fate of more than 30 foreign energy workers was unclear. Yet it could indicate a potential breakthrough in the confrontation that began when the militants seized the plant early Wednesday.

The militants, meanwhile, offered to trade two captive American workers for two terror figures jailed in the United States, according to a statement received by a Mauritanian news site that often reports news from North African extremists.

The Friday report from the government news agency APS, citing a security official, did not mention any casualties in the battles between Algerian forces and the militants. But earlier it had said that 18 militants had been killed, along with six hostages.

It was not clear whether the remaining foreigners were still captive or had died during the Algerian military offensive to free them that began Thursday.

The desert siege erupted Wednesday when the militants attempted to hijack two buses at the plant, were repulsed, and then seized the sprawling refinery. Algerian troops then surrounded them.

Since then, Algeria’s government has kept a tight grip on information about the mass kidnapping. It wasn’t clear how the government arrived at the latest tally of hostages, which was far higher than the 41 foreigners the militants had claimed as hostages.

The militants had seized hundreds of workers from 10 nations at Algeria’s remote Ain Amenas natural gas plant. The overwhelming majority were Algerian and were freed almost immediately.

Algerian forces retaliated Thursday by storming the plant in an attempted rescue operation that left leaders around the world expressing strong concerns about the hostages’ safety.

Militants claimed 35 hostages died on Thursday when Algerian military helicopters opened fire as the Islamists transported the hostages around the gas plant.

On Friday, trapped in the main refinery area, the militants offered to trade two American hostages for two prominent terror figures jailed in the United States. Those the militants sought included Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheikh who was convicted of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks and considered the spiritual leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

But U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said there would be “no place to hide” for anyone who looks to attack the United States.

“Terrorists should be on notice that they will find no sanctuary, no refuge, not in Algeria, not in North Africa, not anywhere,” Panetta said Friday.

Workers kidnapped by the militants came from around the world — Americans, Britons, French, Norwegians, Romanians, Malaysians, Japanese, Algerians.

World leaders have expressed strong concerns in the past few days about how Algeria was handing the situation and its apparent reluctance to communicate.

Terrorized hostages from Ireland and Norway trickled out of the Ain Amenas plant, 800 miles south of Algiers, the capital. BP, which jointly operates the plant, said it had begun to evacuate employees from Algeria.

“This is a large and complex site and they are still pursuing terrorists and possibly some of the hostages,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday in London.

He told British lawmakers the situation remained fluid and dangerous, saying “part of the threat has been eliminated in one part of the site, a threat still remains in another part.”

Schemm reported from Rabat, Morocco. Associated Press writers Lolita Baldor in Washington, Lori Hinnant in Paris, and Cassandra Vinograd in London contributed to this report.

EARLIER VERSION OF THIS STORY

ALGIERS, Algeria — Algeria’s state news service says about 60 foreign hostages are unaccounted for in the standoff with Islamist militants now entering its third day.

The news service said more than half the 132 foreign hostages had been freed, but the report could not account for the rest. The report Friday also said special forces had resumed negotiations after an assault Thursday at the gas plant deep in the Sahara.

A Mauritanian news site that frequently receives messages from al-Qaida linked militants said the hostage-takers in Algeria had offered to trade two captive Americans for two jailed terror figures in the United States.

One of the two, Omar Abdel Rahman, masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.